Date Book

Hi Everyone!

In addition to cards lately I have been papercrafting notebooks, mini photo albums, and cookbooks. Last night when I was jotting down a reminder that one of our favorite neighbors is turning 82 next week a memory flashed into my mind.

My father kept a date book in his top bureau drawer.  It was small and thick.  The cover was made of soft brown leather, the pages were edged in gold and there was a thin ribbon attached to it that you could slip between any of the pages.  Someone from his family had given it to him and had recorded the birthdays and anniversaries of his brothers, sisters, and brother-and-sister-in-laws in it. There were also short quotes scattered throughout the pages. I decided that a date book is just what I need so last night I made myself one. It was so easy to put together that I've decided to make more of them for some of my friends.

I wanted the book to be small and light enough that it could fit in a purse, but I also wanted to be able to read the dates easily and have enough room to jot down names in it. I designed and redesigned the pages until I was comfortable with the size. Originally I planned to stamp in the months of the year or use some months of the year stickers that I noticed in a store the other day, but I decided to just type them in along with the numbers so that I could plan the rest of the book. When the pages are trimmed they are 4" across and 6" down. The numbers are in 2 columns which leaves enough room to jot down a name or two next to a specific date.

I cut 2 pieces of chipboard that measured 4.5" across and 7" down. I deliberately made them a little longer than the calendar pages so that I could punch some holes at the top. I inked the side edges and edges on the tops and bottoms of both pieces of chipboard. I went through my paper drawers and decided that papers from the SEI Moravia collection would be perfect for my book.  I used Scor-pal tape to adhere paper to both sides of the front and back covers.

I decided to just use scrapbook paper for the pages without any chipboard sandwiched between them. I cut 12 sheets of paper that measured 9" x 7". I used my Scor-Pal to score a line at 4.5" along the 9" side. Then I folded the paper along the crease so the pages now measured 4.5" across and 7" down. I used Scor-pal tape to keep the pages folded.

I punched holes in the tops of each page and glued one of the calendar papers to each page. Then I slipped a chicken ring from Creative Teaching Press through each of the 2 holes to bind the book together.  I adhered some SEI blueberry alphabet puff stickers that simply say "Date Book" to an SEI accent on the cover of the book. I also added a flower from my stash. The brads are from SEI. I added a rub-on from the SEI Moravian collection to each of the calendar pages to embellish them a little.

Changes I will make when I create more of these books...

I originally planned to add a seasonal embellishment to each calendar page so I typed the name of each month in a color that I thought would coordinate with those embellishments. If I use the SEI Moravian paper for additional date books I will type the names of the months in navy blue or dark brown. I think that I will type the numbers in those same colors instead of using black.
 
That's it for today!  Talk to you soon.
Carol